A Civics Lesson on Polling in Bad Times: Primitives

I wrote about polls for many years as a reporter and I always wondered why they just didn’t have a couple of “sanity” questions just to help assess how important, or accurate, or predictive, whatever, they were. One would be whether you would snare rabbits in your back yard for baking for meat. Most people […]

Time to shift from my dire medical condition to the dire condition of our politics. A timely shift!

Okay, so the pins are set up the bowlers are ready to step up and send a thundering message down the alley. The problem is we can’t tell what thundering message it’s going to be, and may well not be able to tell until the next Presidential election. So do we have the impeachment process […]

Coming back! In the wake of a brain infection, "Mr. Charles" discovers it's not yet his time

I wish I could say I will never forget my 70th birthday because it was such a jolly event for all parties. That was not the case. Aug. 23 my wife and I went to Convito Italiano at Plaza Del Lago for a fine lunch, just as we have many times before. I was in […]

Dr. Solomon Hakim and his plumbing solution for my brain problem

What I recall of the morning I went for brain surgery at Evanston Hospital were a lot of intense nurses rolling me around very quickly, air conditioning that wouldn’t stop and an operating room full of surgeons, helpers, students, nurses, whatever, preparing to drill into my head and solve my problem. Donald Trump was president, […]

UPDATE:A Report on Me: Wacky, wet and wobbly. It would be funny, but it’s no joke

I will be operated on to put a shunt in my brain on Aug. 6 at 8:30. a.m. at Evanston Hospital. I should be there about 24 hours or so. Then home to recuperate and then back to this by my birthday, I think, on Aug. 23. Thank you all for your best wishes and […]

The Greatest Military Parade of them all is in Red Square

But think of what it represents. It happens because at some point, the place was so fragile that huge parades and fireworks displays like bombardments sent the not very subtle message that, although your life is built on layers and layers of shit, we still have ALL the power. I have been to the big […]

Kicking Off Trump’s New Campaign?

Surprise, it’s just like Trump’s old campaign, except even more arrogant. Same scene, a big arena packed to the rafters in Florida (people left early). Same issues: Hillary Clinton, lock her up, missing emails, and so on. Same rhetoric, keeping America great and so on. Same ridiculous smile, full of confidence and gluten. So here […]